Browse Author: Elizabeth Anderson

It took seven years, but the DUI case against Myrtle Beach businessman Mike Hilton has finally been put to bed.

Back in 2008, Hilton was originally charged with felony DUI resulting in death and felony DUI resulting in serious injury following an accident that involved Hilton and the two passengers on a motorcycle that he struck while he was driving while under influence of alcohol.

After a great deal of back and forth, Hilton has finally entered a guilty plea to the reduced charges of first offense DUI and assault and battery, third degree. These charges made it possible for Circuit Court judge Benjamin Culbertson to sentence Hilton to serve 30 days or pay $400 on the DUI charge and 30 days or $500 on the assault and battery charge, a significantly less severe punishment than Hilton would have faced had the charges not been reduced. Just the felony DUI death charge carries a 25-year prison sentence.

In addition to serving time and paying a court fine, Hilton has to pay the victims $265,000. This amount must be paid in fully by July 24th or else the court will strike the plea deal and Hilton will once again be charged with the felony DUI count, something he wishes to avoid.

An ignition interlock device will also be installed on his vehicle and will stay in place for 6 months. The ignition interlock device is designed in such a way that the vehicle will not start until the Hilton inhales into the device which is designed to determine whether or not he has an alcohol in his system. If he does, the engine won’t start.

The accident that started the case took place on May 10, 2008 when Hilton was traveling on Wildwood Trail. It was on this road that he struck a motorcycle carrying two passengers. The bike’s driver was killed as a result of the injuries he sustained in the accident. Since the accident, the second person on the bike has gone through 12 different surgeries in an attempt to repair their leg which was severely injured in the accident.

More than two hours after the accident took place, Hilton’s blood alcohol level was .15, twice the legal limit in South Carolina.

One of the reasons that the case took so long to resolve was the breathalyzer test. In the months following the accede, South Carolina’s legislatures passed a law stating that the breathalyzer test had to be taken within two hours of the accident in order to be admissible in court. This led to a lengthy debate about whether or not the prosecution could use Hilton’s test in the case. As a result, the case was bounced around in the Court of Appeals and South Carolina Supreme Court, and was eventually settled in a plea deal.

“This is terribly tragic event and cased like these are the reason I became a personal injury lawyer. To protect families who have been victimized by others and to make sure the accident doesn’t lead to insurmountable financial setbacks,” said Joseph Sandefur, managing partner of a top personal injury firm, joeandmartin.com/myrtle-beachwith an office headquartered in Myrtle Beach.

An attack by a dog in Homestead South Carolina resulted in bite wounds severe enough that the victim had to be airlifted to the Kendall Regional Medical Center.

The attack took place at a home on 12th Street. The South Carolina Fire Rescue were the first to respond to the attack.

Krystal Jimenez was a witness to the attack. “The dog just attacked him.” Before the victim was taking away by the EMT crew, Jiminez saw that his neck had been bitten.

The owner of the dog claims that despite the beware of dog signs they have posted all over the fence that runs along the perimeter of their property, the victim reached an arm over the top of the fence, most likely in an attempt to pet her Rottweiler mix. The dog was quickly to attack.

Jimenez says the dog has a violent temperament and this isn’t the first time it’s gone after a human. “The lady right here, her daughter got attacked by the same dog.”

“I don’t know if there are actually more cases of people getting severely bitten or violently attacked by dog’s these days” Joe and Martin, a managing partner at a South Carolina based personal injury legal firm, muses, of if it’s just that the media has started to become more aggressive about reporting them. It seems like I hear about at least one case like this one a week, and lately they seem to be happening even more frequently.”

Dog owners are liable for injuries their pets cause if the owner knew the dog had a tendency to bite. In some states, statutes make the owners liable whether or not they knew the dog had a tendency to bite; in others, owners can be held responsible only if they knew or should have known their dogs had a propensity to bite.

While Joe and Martin have no problem with people owning dogs, he feels that dog owners have to become more aware that they really are liable for their dog’s actions and personality. “I like dogs, but I also know that if own one that’s aggressive and it bites someone, I’m legally responsible. The more violent the dog’s background is, the greater the odds become that I’ll find myself on the wrong side of a civil claim.

I think the time has come for dog owners to step up to the plate and realize exactly what they’re getting into. If they want to avoid being named as a defendant in a civil dog bite case, they need to make sure that they take steps to find a dog that’s friendly, who has never exhibited an aggressive behavior, and than get the dog properly trained and socialized. If they own an aggressive dog, it’s their responsibility to take steps and precautions to ensure that the dog isn’t able to ever hurt anyone. If they’re not prepared to do that, they’ll need to rehome the dog or face the legal ramifications.”

Dog bite cases by nature are quite complicated. It can often be difficult to tell exactly who is and isn’t responsible for the attack. The best way to sort through the matter is with the assistance of an experienced personal injury attorney like those found at https://joeandmartin.com/. They’ll help you decide who to name as the defendant, make sure the paperwork is in order, and guide you through the negotiation process.

On Tuesday morning, an officer found herself forced to file an accident report after her patrol car was struck by a bakery truck. The officer had been in route to handle a reported assault that was in progress near South and Third streets. As the officer reached the intersection of South and 11th streets the accident occurred.

Police Chief Inspector, Scott Small, was willing to make a statement about the incident. “This just appears to be an intersection accident. The police officer, who is assigned to the Third District, was en route to a foot pursuit just about seven blocks away. She did have her lights and sirens activated when she went through the intersection.”

According to reports, the officer was injured and complained about pain on the left side of her body and exhibited visible bleeding from her mouth. Before she was as transported to the neared hospital, she indicated that she was perfectly capable of both speaking and walking.

At the time this article was written, it was unclear whether it was the California police officer or the driver of the bakery truck who was at fault for the accident. “Our real-time crime cameras are located at the intersection, and we’re told they did record the accident,” Scott Small explained to the press.

“I’m very glad that no one appears to have been seriously hurt during the accident,” California personal injury attorney, Drew Warren stated. “My firm handles many personal injury cases similar to this one. It’s always frightening to see how badly a person can be hurt when someone take their eyes of the road, even for a split second.”

At the moment, there’s no indication about whether or not the police department is interested in pursuing a civil case against the driver of the bakery truck and possibly the bakery as well. It’s likely that the department wants to review the footage of the accident before they decide how they want to proceed.

You don’t have to be an injured police officer to pursue a California personal injury case when you’re hurt in a vehicular accident. When you contact a personal injury law firm, you’ll work closely with an experienced attorney who will review all the details of your case and then advise you as to the best way to proceed. No lawyer is going to suggest filing a personal injury lawsuit against the other driver if they’re not confident that they can’t win the case for you.

If you decide to file a personal injury claim, your attorney will launch an investigation into the accident and use the information they gather to determine the size of the settlement they believe your entitled to. The settlement should be enough to help you pay your medical bills and repair/replace your vehicle any loss wages. It’s also possible that the attorney will be able to get a little extra added to the settlement to compensate you for your pain and suffering.

The sooner you contact a personal injury attorney; the sooner they can start working on your behalf.

Since it was first approved for public use, there have been people who complained that the pharmaceutical companies behind testosterone drugs such as AndroGel went too far in their marketing campaigns and made the testosterone drugs sound like the key to the fountain of youth. There have also been complaints which have led testosterone lawsuits claiming that the manufactures were deliberately quiet about whether or not use of the drugs in testosterone therapy could lead to side effects such as prostate cancer and heart attacks.

Despite the criticism, it’s estimated that in the United States, one million men have started to use testosterone gels with the hope that the gels will increase their energy levels and boost their sex drive. Economical experts feel confident that by 2017, testosterone drugs will generate an annual revenue of $5 billion and that American men invest $2 billion annually into testosterone replacement therapies with the hope of feeling younger.

Earlier this year, a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine garnered interest when it discussed the results of data collected from 800 men who were using AndroGel to help with issues that included low libido to decreased walking speeds. In order to participate in the study, each man had to have been diagnosed with low testosterone levels. The research was only done on men who used the gel and not anyone who took testosterone therapy in the form of oral pills, patches, or injections.

The report indicated that the men only experienced modest improvements in sexual desire after they started using the gel, and there was little change in the men who use the gel with the hopes that it would ease their erectile dysfunction problems. The results indicated that for sexual performance issues, Viagra was a more effective tool. There was minimal improvement in mood and no measurable change in energy levels and mobility.

What the study didn’t do was explore the possibility that AndroGel and other forms of testosterone therapy could lead to serious health problems, including heart attacks, issues that the pharmaceutical companies have been neatly sidestepping.

While the drug companies might not be willing to comment on the potential side effects of the testosterone drugs they produce and sell, the men who have taken the drug only to suffer from a severe threat to their health are ready and willing to tackle the issue. At this moment, there are thousands of lawsuits in the works that have been filed by men who are confident that there’s a direct link between the testosterone therapy drugs they used and the heart attack or stroke they suffered after they started the treatment program. 5,000 federal lawsuits against the manufactures of testosterone replacement drugs have been filed in just the Northern District of Illinois. The men who filed the lawsuits say they hadn’t realized there was any connection between the testosterone and cardiovascular problems.

The rising concerns about the potentially fatal side effects connected to testosterone therapy drugs prompted the FDA to require the manufactures of the drugs to change the warning labels attached to the gels, patches, and pills.

If you feel that testosterone replacement therapy has harmed your health and want to take legal actions, contact a good attorney today. We recommend you to visit http://www.rxinjuryhelp.com/.

Following a devastating Valentine’s Day fire that resulted in the death of five children, a Minneapolis landlord finds himself facing a wrongful death lawsuit. Most of the children perished when they became caught in the third story stairwell.

Based on the court papers, the parent’s feel their children’s deaths could have been prevented if their landlord had been more diligent about maintaining the building. According to the papers, not only did he fail to make sure the building had an adequate amount of smoke alarms installed in it, but there were also problems with the heating system, faulty electrical outlets, and insufficient escape routes

Although fire fighters were not able to officially determine what triggered the blaze, it’s the belief of the fire inspector that the most likely explanation is that a space heater being used in the family room was the cause. The general consensus is that the outlet the space heater was plugged into, and not the space heater itself, that sparked.

The family is arguing that if the landlord had made sure the heating system in the building had been working properly, they wouldn’t have been forced to use the space heater in the first place. In addition to that, the lack of smoke detectors and poor escape route made it impossible for the family to escape the house without casualties.

The landlord has already mounted his defense which is that he was not told that there was a problem with the heating in the building.

This is not the first time such a lawsuit has been brought against landlords by their tenants. Just last year, the National Fire Protection Association reported that there were a total of 24 fires in the United States that killed five or more people.

A wrongful death attorney Tampa can’t restore your loved ones. They can’t ease your heartache, but they can help you take the steps needed to make sure another family doesn’t have experience the pain of losing those they care about in a fire that could have been prevented.

If you have even the smallest suspicion that the fire was the result of neglect, you need to touch base with a wrongful death attorney in Tampa. Not only will they go over the case with you, but they will also contact the fire inspector and read through reports and based on what they find, they’ll help you determine whether or not you a wrongful death lawsuit is a sound course of action.

Even though you’re still grieving, the best time to contact a wrongful death attorney in Tampa is as soon after the fire as possible. By contacting them sooner rather than later, you make it possible for them to interview witnesses and explore the facts of the case while it’s still fresh in everyone’s mind. When you contact a Tampa wrongful death attorney, you will be able to start moving forward and continue on a path to healing.

Tenants’ rights frequently makes news, especially in New York real estate law. While it is important to establish and protect the rights of renters, it is also necessary to establish laws and rights for the landlords who make housing available.

If you’re a landlord, there are several instances in which you may need to consult with an attorney. Not only will you need an estimable New York real estate lawyer to help you purchase your properties,but as you establish yourself as a reputable landlord, you may encounter more situations in which the advice of a lawyer is necessary.

Evictions and Holdovers

No landlord wants to dwell on the possibility of evictions, but unfortunately sometimes it is necessary to have a tenant removed from your building. Evictions are necessary if a tenant has failed to pay their rent or if they’ve violated their lease in some way. A reputable New York real estate law firm will help you navigate the legal system to help you find the best possible solution for your situation. They will be able to guide you as to what your next steps should be and help you efficiently handle what might feel like a real estate nightmare.

Non-Payment Proceedings

If a tenant is not paying their rent, you may need to begin Non-Payment Proceedings to recover any money they owe you. In this situation, you aren’t trying to evict a tenant, just attempting to collect rent owed.

Lease Restructuring

Restructuring a lease may help you maintain a tenant, especially if prices in the area are dropping. Because a lease is a legal document, this is best handled by a knowledgeable New York real estate attorney. Your lawyer will help protect you and your assets during a lease restructuring.

Rent Collection

You read that right. A real estate lawyer can help you collect rent in a timely fashion. They will send demand letters upon late payment and will be able to more quickly begin Non-Payment Proceedings should the need arise. A real estate attorney understands that a landlord’s livelihood is his real estate holdings and that to be profitable, he or she needs to be collecting rent on time.

Article 78 Appeals

In New York, Article 78 deals with property zoning. Other states have similar zoning boards, though they may go by different names. The ability to appeal a zoning decision is an important tool for landlords. Zoning decisions may affect how a property can be used. A real estate lawyer can help you file an appeal against an Article 78 decision to help ascertain whether the decision was a rational one, or whether it was arbitrary or capricious. A court will then decide the merits of the appeal.

Real Estate lawyers are adept at assisting landlords with the legal side of their businesses. Reputable New York real estate firms offer free consultations to help landlords evaluate what services they may need and to help them better understand how an attorney can help them navigate the sometimes murky waters of landlord-tenant relationships. Part of common law, Real Estate law can help protect a landlord, as long as he or she is knowledgeable about it.